The Crucible

Many of literature’s finest works have been a response against a social or political situation. The French Revolution was documented, romantically if not accurately, by Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities, and Victor Hugo in his masterpiece, Les Miserables. An excellent example of a modern event that inspired a masterpiece of fiction is the McCarthy Witch-Hunts. Arthur Miller wrote his play, The Crucible, in response to what he felt was madness on the part of Senator Joseph McCarthy. The author’s revelations between the Salem Witch Trials of the seventeen century and the McCarthy Witch-Hunts of the 1950s were so powerful that an attempt was made to ban the book in the United States. By using a historical event and real people, and considerable artistic license, Miller created a dramatic tour de force parallel to the McCarthy Investigations in Un-American Activities.

From 1950 to 1954, the four years that Joseph McCarthy served in the Senate were his glory days and America’s darkest. In May 1954, he confronted the United States Army and its secretary, Robert Stevens with charges that they were Communist agents, and the famous Army-McCarthy hearings started soon after. With a television audience of twenty million Americans, th

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A Handmaid’s Tale was written by Margaret Atwood to promote feminism.

Literature has always been a vehicle for voicing political and social concerns. " Few of us can easily surrender our

belief that society must somehow make sense. He does eventually, after signing fifteen death warrants, realize that the Salem Witch Trials was a massive deception, as the American public realized that the McCarthy Witch-Hunts were pointless and hurtful. Fiction is the most eloquent and effective method of commentary upon any political or social situation. As I

learned from non-Jewish refugees, however there was

often a despairing pity mixed with "Well, they must have

done something. McCarthy was obviously slipping, but he didn't give up. George Orwell was a master writer who penned dozens of books with “hidden messages” such as 1984 and Animal Farm. McCarthy’s secretary, Robert Stevens, and his aide, Roy Cohn, are reflected as Reverent Parris and Danforth. Critics responded with metaphorical ovations, but the leading figures of McCarthy’s trials were less than warm with their response. Eisenhower, the president in office during the trials, helped the Army, his former employer, mount an impressive counter-attack. The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson sparked a large environmentalist movement. Often, writers resort to writing fiction because it would be unwise and dangerous to voice their opinions literally, and so they veil it in an elegant metaphor.

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